Having them is not the same as sinning. If we don't know about them we cannot cherish them or act them out. If circumstances do not bring them to out attention they are a non-issue.

We can't act them out if don't know about them? Really?


Is conversion an one-time event? No.

God would do well to make sure we don't ever encounter those circumstances, so we can all be sinless.

There are people who have been taught all their lives that having multiple wives is a good thing. Are they not guilty because they don't know any better?

APL, I am not talking about sins of ignorance. I'm talking about sins we have never committed.

I'm talking about people who completed the process of conversion in God's appointed way - people who have learned how to live in harmony with everything Jesus commanded. This process does not end in people sinning ignorantly.

Does the converted Christian have unknown defects of character? No, they wouldn't have unknown defects of character. Instead, they might have dormant, untapped, uncultivated traits of character. There is a difference between defects of character and traits of character. People develop defects of character by sinning repetitiously. People who complete the process of conversion in God's appointed way are not ignorant of the defects they have cultivated. They might, on the other hand, have dormant, untapped, uncultivated traits of character - traits they have not turned into defects of character by sinning repetitiously. However, even if they do have dormant, untapped, uncultivated traits of character, they do not count as sins and will not count against them in judgment as sins.

Arnold, it appears the Lord is fully engaged to bring our personal defects to the surface, that we may confess & repent. Surely all heaven is deeply interested in our purification before the time of trouble.

God's people will find this comforting, that Christ is His brothers' keeper.
Leaving latent defects would be negligent, a breach of trust.

But there are some who would rather face extinction than admit their flesh is mortal,
and bow the knee, confess, repent.

Surely that's bondage - to choose an earthly body over one eternal.
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Ellen White says that there were defects, not traits, unknown to Paul.

These persons had not experienced the work of reformation, or sanctification through the truth. They were coarse and uncultivated. They had never tasted of the sweet, pure refinement of the world to come. They had never experienced, neither had their hearts been awed by, the mystery of godliness. They placed divine and eternal things upon a level with common things, and would talk of heaven and the coming of Jesus as they would of a horse. They had a superficial knowledge or theory of the truth, but further than this they were ignorant. Its principles had not taken hold of their lives and led them to an abhorrence of self. They had never viewed themselves in the light in which Paul viewed himself, which led him to see the moral defects in his character. They had never been slain by the law of God, and had not separated themselves from their impurities and defilement. It is the favorite occupation of some of this class to engage in trifling conversation and levity. This habit they contracted, and indulged upon occasions which should have been characterized by solemn meditation and devotion. In doing this, they manifested a lack of true dignity and refinement, and forfeited the esteem of sensible persons who had no knowledge of the truth. This class threw themselves into a current of temptation and kept where the enemy led them successfully, and he has so easily controlled their minds and corrupted their entire experience that in all probability they will be unable to recover themselves out of his snare and obtain a healthful experience. 2T 554.

The apostle draws a sharp distinction between the condition of the avowed transgressor, who dares to live in defiance of God’s law, and yet make claim to holiness, and the condition of him who, tho yielding his heart to the claims of the law of God, still sees defects in his character, and bows in humility before God to make confession of sin. Paul says: “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.” How dangerous is the position of men who, while claiming sanctification, still will not receive the light of the law by which sin is detected! Sanctification is conformity to the will of God, and the will of God is expressed in his holy law. Those only are truly sanctified who live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. How terrible is it to be a false light, and, while claiming salvation through the merit of the blood of Christ, to be sowing the seed of rebellion against the law of God in the hearts of men! ST 4-30-1896.

The idea that completing the "process of conversion" in God's appointed way results in ignorantly practicing some of the sinful habits cultivated while in the world is unbiblical.